Citizens venting at police

STOCKTON - There's a perception among some Stocktonians today that police aren't interested in hearing about a crime unless it involves a gun, a gangster or a northwest address. It's born out of the frustration many victims experience when they don't get the response they feel their incident deserves.

STOCKTON - There's a perception among some Stocktonians today that police aren't interested in hearing about a crime unless it involves a gun, a gangster or a northwest address. It's born out of the frustration many victims experience when they don't get the response they feel their incident deserves.

Often because of that perception, many crimes go unreported. But that actually hinders police, even in a broke city with a critically understaffed Police Department that admittedly can't respond to every call for service.

The department has conveyed that its top priority the past year has been focusing on the violence wreaked by guns and gangs. And statistics back that up.

Overall violent crime was down more than 14 percent in May compared with a year earlier. Most notably, homicides year to date dropped 58 percent - 10 from January through May compared with 24 during the same period in 2012, a record year in which Stockton police investigated 71 homicides.

Robberies, forcible rapes and aggravated assaults also have decreased significantly compared with 2012.

If anyone feels the public's frustration over police response in Stockton, it is Chief Eric Jones. He spends two to three evenings a week at community meetings and Neighborhood Watch events addressing issues and hearing firsthand from aggrieved citizens.

Recent news reports have highlighted the case of bicycle rider Aaron Vaughn, who was the victim of a hit-and-run driver and charged the Police Department with bungling the follow-up investigation. Several recent victims of pit bull attacks have been dissatisfied with the response of the department's understaffed Animal Services unit, in one case claiming that by not picking up the dogs they went on to attack two more people before being destroyed.

Carpenter Ardie Kendrick, 61, who on May 21 witnessed a thief leaving a Pacific Avenue S-Mart with stolen liquor and then became a victim when the suspect ran his getaway car into Kendrick's pickup, cutting his legs, became frustrated with police.

"They just ignored me. They wouldn't even take the report over the phone," Kendrick said.

After initially talking to officers at the scene, Kendrick was told on at least two occasions that detectives would soon follow up with him. That happened almost four weeks later, after police were informed of Kendrick's concerns by the media. He was able to provide critical information to help in the investigation.

Jones is aware of these situations and said he constantly emphasizes to his officers about being professional and providing "good customer service" in light of scarce resources.

"A year ago, we told the public that service delivery was going to be diminished. We're staying focused on our violence reduction initiative," Jones said recently, describing the period when Stockton became the largest city in the nation to file for bankruptcy protection.

About the same time, Jones rolled out the Community Response Team that has made serious inroads in reducing street violence by focusing on crime hot spots around the city. That successful effort has taken valuable police manpower and resources away from responding to other crimes.

"We're committed to the Operation Ceasefire model focusing on guns and gangs. We can't for a moment take our eye off the focus on violent crime. The moment you take your eye off the ball and start changing priorities, you start to lose your forward momentum," Jones said.

He said Stockton's police force is the "second-most understaffed in the nation," only behind Bakersfield, but that south Valley city doesn't have nearly the gang problem as Stockton.

Just like other police agencies around the nation, Stockton police rely more on Internet and phone reporting by victims and witnesses, Jones said. And he made repeated references to the department becoming more "data driven."

That data, he said, is generated primarily by reports from the public about crimes and suspicious activities occurring in their neighborhoods. But if people don't make reports, police are in the dark about what's happening. The department's 911 dispatchers typically field about 1,000 calls every 24 hours.

"You're not bothering us, even if it's a busy night," Jones said.

He pointed to progress curbing violence being made in neighborhoods such as Fremont Park and Knickerbocker/West Lane.

"What we saw as a very high comfort level among criminals carrying guns. But what we're seeing is less and less of that today, and that's indicative of us being on the right path. The statistics are what they are," Jones said.

On the other hand, taking a quality-of-life crime that doesn't make headlines such as burglary - there have been 1,901 reported this year through May, almost the same number as last year - "if we see a spike in a neighborhood, we will go in. We still send technicians to take fingerprints. We still investigate burglary, but to the level we would like to, no," the chief said.

Data is important here, Jones said, because while police may not respond to every call, they are alerted to a developing problem.

Typically, burglary is a crime of opportunity committed by drug addicts in search of quick cash or juveniles from the neighborhood. While a high-visibility police presence is the No. 1 deterrent, Stockton residents have a responsibility too, Jones said, to "harden your own target" by being aware of what's happening in your neighborhood, observing the license plate of a suspicious car, pruning shrubs around your house, essentially "take all the care you can to protect your home."

Whenever he gets the chance, Jones encourages the community to become involved in crime prevention and reduction, "not necessarily physically," he cautioned.

"I understand people's frustration. We need them to report it, because that way we know about it," Jones said.